because of today's decision, cigarette companies will no longer be able to appeal to young people and get them looked for life. we know the tobacco company business model relies on getting young people hooked. 80% of young people are addicted before they turn 19 years old. 99% of smokers were addicted before they turned 26. the reason that tobacco companies have to target young people is because the older smokers keep dying. half of smokers end up dying from smoking. we know young smokers are responsive to two things, responsive to packaging.

we have listed nicotine replacement therapy. restricted advertising and increased the graphic warnings on packets. these combination of measures have made dramatic inroads in smoking rights in australia. in 1988, about 30% of people of the age 14 were daily smokers. we've got that break down to half that now, about 15% of australians still smoking. 15% is still too high. while we've won this battle today, the war is far from over. we know that a third of teenage parents smoke while they're pregnant. we still have a lot to do

today. today is a great victory. >> on the international front, the government was pressed by what support its providing to the australian wikileaks founder julian assange. he remains hold up in the embassy. london. foreign ministry is providing him with adequate support. >> thank you president. my question is for the minister. minister, in response to several metropolitan police entering the building and housing ministry in the middle of the night london time. threatening to break the door down and threatening the embassy, have you the high commissioner in london made representation to the united kingdom by entering the premise of the

ecuadorian ministry. foreign minister i'm interested if you made recipe -- representation to the british government? >> australia is not party to this decision. it a matter to julian assange and the united kingdom. the court case to this affair is between mr. assange and the government of sweden. mr.assange remains in the ecuadorian embassy since june. they did announce a decision will be made on his asylum claim at 10:00 p.m. tonight. the outcome of mr. assange claim is a matter of ecuadorian and the united

kingdom government. we have no standing in the british courts but the government does not -- >> senator has gone -- >> thank you. my point is matter of relevant. the question i asked, is whether we've made representation to the british government by metropolitan police. that's a yes or no question minister. >> there's no point of order. the minister is answering the question and the minister has one minute and five seconds. today there are 62

representations made by the australian government. now, according to a advice i got from the department, no australian received more attention in a comparable space of time in terms of representation than mr. assange. this includes representations on his behalf to obtain insurances of due pross and future legal proceedings. >> that was the highlight of the latest sitting the australian parliament. see you next time. >> see the first of the presidential debates wednesday october 3rd live on c-span, c-span radio and c-span.org.

next a debate with candidates for the u.s. senate in missouri. then ann romney campaigns in milwaukee at 11:00 p.m., "q&a" with former t.a.r.p. inspector general neil barofsky. tomorrow mexican presidential philippe calderon discuss u.s. and mexican relation. live coverage begins 9:00 a.m. eastern on c-span 2. missouri senator claire mccaskill and congressman todd akin participated in a televised debate friday. they rate this race as likely democratic. also participating in the debate, third party libertarian candidate jonathan dine. this one hour debate is hosted by the missouri

press association. >> thank you phil and welcome again to the missouri press association debates. let me introduce to you today our candidates, we have to my left, republican congressman todd akin. in the middle, democratic senator claire mccaskill. at the end, libertarian candidate jonathan dine. let me also introduce to you today our panel of journalist who will be joining me and asking questions today of the candidates. we have a student at the university of missouri, we have bill miller of the

washington missourian and jeff fox of the independent examiner. now let me briefly go over the rules of our debate today. the candidates drew numbers in advance to determine their speaking order. they will each have two minutes for an opening statement. candidates will have the 90 seconds to answer each question with a 45 second rebuttal at the option of the moderator. i will ask the first question and then our panelist will take turns asking questions. at the end of the debate, candidates will have two minutes for closing debates. for the members of the audience, we ask you to silence your phone and hold your applause. let's get started. we're read for our opening statements a congressman akin you're first. >> thank you all very much for allowing us to have this chance to talk about things that matter about

our families and about our country. i'm an engineer. i served as an officer in the army and work for ibm where i met my dear wife of 37 years. we have 6 six, 8 grandchildren. thee of -- three of my sons went to the neal -- navel academy. as you can imagine, i have a great love for our country and for the american dream and the things that made us who we are. but my sense is, that things are not all right. if you take a look at gasoline prices, they are double what they were a few years ago. food prices are up. for the fact is, the jobs aren't there and the

numbers are much worse. we also have the $16 trillion of debt, a trillion plus deficit every year and all of these things are like little red lights on the dashboard telling you, something is not right. i believe that we have forgotten the secret of what made america such a special country. that is something which we see being destroyed right at our very -- right in front of our very eyes. we see a washington d.c., which got more and more red tape and bureaucracy and agency and executive orders and taxes and everything and they basically crushing freedom in america. your choice in this election is either more freedom as i have voted for more washington d.c. it's your choice, more freedom or more washington. >> claire mccaskill? >> thank you to the press association. it is great to be here and

thank you to both tawed and jonathan for being here today. this election will be a quite contrast for missourians not because we're at opposite ends. i'm in the middle. he's so far on the fringe. there have been many comments made in this campaign that congressman akin that i find unacceptable. it's his views that will be painful. i'm proud of my strong moderate record in senate where i have worked with many republicans to do important things. like cutting spending, like banning earmarks, like cutting taxes over a trillion dollars for small businesses and working families. cleaning up contracting and protecting promoting

american jobs. todd has worked closing with michelle bachmann, they pushes things that will harm missouri. on march 8, 2011, todd akin said i don't like social security. he's bone on in this campaign to -- he would raise the retirement age he would lower the benefit. on august 13, 2011, he said medicare was constitutional. since that time, he has in fact voted several times to voucherrize medicare. it arm wrestle with them for coverage and whether their claims will be paid. i believe we can lower the deficit and debt but we will not do it, we should

do not do it at the expense of these program programs for seniors. >> jonathan dine? >> welcome everybody and thank you for come out today. i want to give a big thanks for the missouri press association to host this debate. my name a jonathan dine and i'm a libertarian candidate for the united states senate. like many of you, i'm tired of the constant fighting of the republicans and democrats. beating the other team has become more important. america is now on the verge of a financial collapse and both parties are to blame with their wreckless tax, borrow and spend policies. neither party seriously about balancing the budget or lowering your taxes or restoring your personal freedom. for as long as i can remember, republican and democrat politicians offering up solutions.

higher and higher taxes. enough is enough. as a libertarian senator, i will stand up for your personal freedom, i'm socially accepting and tolerance. i'm also fiscalally responsible. i'm tired of the wreckless spending and the wreckless earmarks as your senator, i will vote no to wreckless spending, vote no to any legislation where spending exceeds revenue. i will advocate on the part of the balanced budget amendment. the government should live within its means just like the people of missouri. supporting my candidacy means supporting a lower tax level across the board. we do not need politicians telling us what we can love, what to do with our own money and body. be libertarian with me on november 6th. >> thank you, it is now time to turn to question segment. i will ask the first question and it will go first to congressman todd

akin. the missouri senate race was thrust into the national spot light after comments congressman akin raised. to what extent this comment matter and to what context do you think voters should consider it on election day? >> i answered this question repeatedly. i don't believe that this election overall is about talk. but it's really about two visions of what america is. are we going to go down the path of greece that constantly has a bigger government and taxing more? are we going to go the path of america has always been on a path where we allow freedom, where we allow the american dream to flourish where we don't crush it under the burden of washington d.c. that's the choice of two

different americas. it seems to me what a senator should be doing is taking the common sense that you and i know that's here in missouri and taking that to washington d.c. that's what this election is really about. it's not about words. it's about two different voting records that are the exact opposite. claire can say these a 50 percenter when you vote 98% of the time with obama, give her credit to that. >> i think congressman akin's comments opens the window to his views for

missourians. he has apologizedder those comments but they say a lot about how he views things. that's where missourians need to pay attention. i believe a rape victim should be allowed to have a emergency contraception in order to avoid pregnancy. todd akin does not. i believe his view is extreme and out of the mainstream for most missourians. there's other extreme views, he wants to abolish the minimum wage, he wants to do away with student loans. think what would happen to columbia, missouri if the only kid who could get a college loans, the only kids that can go to college with rich kids are the super star academics. he wants to privatize medicare, privatize social security, he wants to do away with student lunch program. he is one of the handful,

think there were four or five members of the united states congress that voted to eliminate child nutrition program. the vote was something like 416-5. i don't think that's the mainstream compromise willing fix problems and attitude that's we need to send to washington. it's not what he said that is the problem, it's what he believes that's the problem. >> jonathan dine? >> like many of you, i found akin's comments insulting and insensitive to victims of rape. i believe it shows that career politicians have grown too secluded in washington and have forgotten what life is like outside of politics. i was astonished to find that akin's sits on the science committee and he

fails to understand 8th grade biology. it illustrates the point that we have 535 people to regulate everything but produce nothing. we really need to step back and understand that his views and the views of an individual shouldn't be regulated by the government. he speaks for smaller government, yet he wants to push government morality on other individuals because they choose a different way of life. as your senator, i think the issues of abortion are really a wedge issue to take away and distract from the important issues like balancing the budgets and ending the wars and destroying your personal freedom. step back and take a look at the important issues. >> congressman akin, there were several characterizations of your position there. would oatlike offer a chance of rebuttal? >> there were a few words

there. let's start with a couple really basic things. if you don't believe the federal government should do everything, it doesn't mean you don't believe in it. the question do you want the federal government to take over everything that's important. i don't think so. my comments about student loans why don't we leave it the way it was a couple years ago where private lenders can be involved in student loans. or school lunches. is it okay to say maybe that should be done by the state of missouri. does it mean you're against school lunches. mind set here is the federal government has to do everything for us all the time. you want to talk about medicare, let's talk about votes. let's talk about somebody who voted to take $700 billion out of medicare and then wants to crusade as the big hero of medicare. i don't understand that. >> claire mccaskill, he raised the issue of you wants to take $700 billion out of medicare. >> first, no one is saying

private lenders can't lend to students. they can do that now. they just didn't want to do unless the federal government was backing them up and making a cut. all we did say take out the middle man who's taking a cut with no risk. i would thing congressman akin appreciate that. no one is keeping banks from loaning to students. secondly on the medicare cuts, this is the biggest swapper of this campaign season. it is unbelievable to me that congressman akin will vote time and time again for same medicare savings. he knows that the ryan budget took that same saving, you know what they did with the saving, they gave another tax cut to kim kardashian, they gave another tax cut to lebron james, instead of what we need to do with the money,

that is strengthening the medicare program. >> we must move on to the next questions here. the next question goes to senator claire mccaskill. >> in the past 11 years, average prices for undergraduate tuition room and board at public colleges have risen 42% according to the u.s. department of education. what is the specific solution to the declining affordability of education? >> i will tell you it's not to eliminate the department of education. that's what congressman akin wants to do. what we did is we took the middle man out of the student loan and took that cut that they were making with no risk. we took that money and increased the amount of the

pell grant which allows more kids to get to college. this is the land the opportunity. this is where we believe that anybody can do anything and personal freedom is very important but to get to that next lad dar, there's a lot of families that can't get their kids to college. i don't want to shut that door for them. it's important, i think, we keep the pell grants in place. it's a big contrast between me and congressman akin. we have to pay attention to student tuition. it is i think, bad that we are not investing more in higher education at the state and local level. unlike many others, we should raise the cigarette tax. i'm embarrassed that the cigarette tax is the lowest in the country. our cigarette tax is 17 cents a pack. we could raise it by almost a dollar and still be the cheapest cigarettes in the midwest and have that money go directly to help with higher education.

>> jonathan dine? >> education should be getting cheaper, not more expensive. with cheaper computers and electronics, i would like to open up the door for entrepreneurs to come into education. our education system comes too rigid. we don't need to look at why the reason tuition prices are raising. i believe easy to secure government loan have actually increased the price of college with kids receiving more money college institutions have increased the price. if there wasn't as much money being lent out, college campuses would be empty and will be forced to lower the price of tuition. greed has played a big price. i would like to work on investing in education. i think it is something that's important but it should be done at the state and local level. not the federal government. >> todd akin.

>> thank you for a good question here. this is one that really affects a whole lot of people. there was a young man in my office the other day, he said i'm glad i'm out of college but i do owe $100,000 and i'm looking for a job. i thought, how hard it is to try to save $100,000 for that undergraduate degree. how many years it's going to take to try to set that money aside. this is a big problem and it's affecting a whole lot of people. but, the question is then, why is it that college education is just spiraling up in its cost? part of it is because of the government. when the government keeps get into things, it affects the marks place. what's happening is, the government is giving these loans and encouraging the prices to go up and where does that stop? we're putting people into

an incredible vice by the government using more and more money to do things, killing jobs and then facing kids with a completely impossible choice. you want an education but you can't pay for it. this is an example of us doubling down on failure when the government gets into things, a lot of time, it messes them up in the impact example is freddy and fannie and the entire economic mess we're in which was created by the government deciding to get involved in home mortgages. how many more things do we want to inject the government in. they're the ones driving this cost. >> our next question will come from bill miller and go to jonathan dine. >> the u.s. postal service is very important to most of the people in this room today. it is now trying to go into a program that would compete and be unfair to

newspapers. in many cases, newspapers the largest customer for the post office in the community. what i like to know is, what is your position on this issue and the other issues of closing rural post offices and eliminating saturday delivery. what's your position on this? what would do you in the senate to help rural newspapers and community newspapers that depend on the postal service? >> like many of the things run by the government, the postal office is one of them that's very inefficient. i have a friend who works for the postal office as mail carriers. he gets four days straight, ten hours a day. every time he's needed, he gets more overtime. the federal government instead of hiring postal service, will prefer to pay double time or time in a half to one individual

wasting more money instead of hiring more people and creating more jobs. i think that the postal service should cut cost if it wish to remain around. maybe increase the price of a stamp and i would be in favor of closing postal service on saturday. we are in a fiscal crises. we do need to make tough choices. if one of them is cutting back on some of the services, we can wait until monday to receive our mail. >> todd akin? >> well, let me say first of all, postal office is something that's constitutional. government suppose to be doing that. all of you have grown up knowing the postman. you he he's going to bring a letter from somebody special. you expecting a package you order and you're waiting and hoping the postman bring it. it's part of american tradition. there is a principle involved here and that is i think the best way when the government is doing something, is to have each

thing set on its own base. that way we all know that we're not transferring money from one thing to another thing or covering up something. i believe that the postal service needs to be following that kind of principle, and that is the amount of money that's being charged in stamps and the service they provide needs to match the cost of providing those services. that's the best way to solve this and all kinds of other questions. that's one of the reasons why for instance we have gasoline tax. because gasoline tax pays for the the roads. i believe that's probably the best principle overall to deal with the questions and post office. >> claire mccaskill if >> i'm going to try to quote todd akin exactly on this. he said, we can keep raising the prices, if they get too high, the private sector can take over. i disagree. it is in the constitution. we have had the finest and the most reliable and most

comprehensive postal service in the world. they have cut billions in expenses over the last several years. they have shrunk their workforce. what they've been required to do is prefund their pensions and healthcare for 75 years. no one in the private sector is required to prefund their pensions and healthcare for 75 years. no one in the governmental sector except the post office is required to do that. it's got them into a cash flow problem. we have to uncuff them and allow them to be entrepreneurial when it comes to the growth area postal service. i will tell you, mr. miller, you know this and many in this audience know this, a rural post office is more than bricks and mortar. i group in houston and lived in missouri, i still remember where the post offices where in those communities. it's a place the community came together and felt united. six day

delivery is important. rural missouri for senior that's need their medicine. the bill is bipartisan. it saved money. it is in the senate. congressman akin is part of the gridlock that won't pass it. i would ask you congressman akin go back to washington, stop campaigning and help us pass the postal bill. >> congressman akin would you like rebuttal time? >> first of all, i heard what the answer was. well, if you can't make the thing work, we'll just take money from somewhere else to help pay for it. i don't know that's a very responsible solution. the idea of the fact that the rural post offices are important, i never said they weren't important. think they're great. there has to be some kind of fiscal responsibility. it's not responsible to take all the stuff you want

and we're going to somehow make money up here. that's where we're going and because of policies like that and thinking like that, from claire mccaskill, that's why we're running over trillion dollars that we don't have trying to spend it every year. you want to talk about gridlock, let's talk about the senate. it is completely stuck. hasn't done any budget for 1200 dayses. >> senator mccaskill. >> let me tackle the budget quick. this entail fiscal responsible to save the post office. it doesn't take any tax dollars. it continues to make the post office reliant on their income. on the the budget, congressman akin knows last summer instead of passing a resolution the appropriators absolutely ignored. only way you spend money in washington is with an appropriations bill. it's not the budget resolution. all the budget resolution does is advisory and appropriators usually ignore it, as todd knows.

we passed a law last year that limited the size of the budget for two years. it actually says in the law, if you go to mccaskill. senate.gov. you can read it. we want to keep that spending down. this is a political talking points and it's unfair one. >> it time for our next question. will come from jeff fox go first to congressman todd akin. >> estimated 10,000 baby boomers turn 65 everyday. that has dramatic effects on medicare. what is the best approach to put medicare on a permanently secure financial footing? >> putting medicare on a firm financial footing is going to first of all, involve repealing obamacare. look, let's take a look at what obamacare does to

medicare. first thing it does is it cuts $700 billion out of medicare. it's pretty hard to say you're in favor of medicare and cut 7er hundred billion dollars out of it. let's take a look at the second thing it does which is even worse. it creates a 15 person board that will effectively be the people deciding who gets medical treatment and who doesn't. this is rationing. this is government rationing. if you want medicare to work properly, what we need to do is get away from the concept that the government has to do everything. in medicare right now, the government sets the prices of the cost of everything in medicine. we don't want the government setting prices. what in fact, we should allow series of people offer medicare to seniors and let them choose which

one they want. it's a whole lot better to choose from different providers. i think we need to get rid of the price setting which never works. you can go back to 1600 in england, it never works. the government shouldn't be price setting. just allow providers to offer the service to seniors so they have choices. thank you. >> claire mccaskill? >> the affordable healthcare act known as obamacare, does not cut one dime in medicare benefits. it realizes savings by taking some of the big profits away from the insurance companies, corporate welfare they were making off medicare advantage. it lowers some of the reimbursments to hospitals but it depends on the fact we will have more paying customers. by the way, once again, it's the same $700 billion that he voted for the ryan plan a couple times. closes the donut hole and it stands solvency of medicare for eight years.

what i didn't hear was his plan. his plan is to privatize medicare. he wants to give seniors a voucher and once you spend your voucher you're on your own. if the premiums go up, you can't afford it, you're on your own. how do we fix it? there's a couple things we got to do. one we need to do some aggressive means testing. i know political season and i'm not suppose to say we will do anything like that. i believe in it. i don't think we can afford to buy donald trump's prescription drug. we can means test some of the medicare program and enact some of the savings program that are working. st. johns hospital in springfield, took their medicare population and with quality control and customer satisfaction, they were able to reduce $17 million in medicare payment that's were owed. as a result, they got a

bonus of $4 million. that's what we need to do in a capitalistic system. spending less money rather than incentivizing more treatment. >> jonathan dine >> like many of the government entitlement programs, medicare, medicaid are all coming to a cusp. they are coming towards a financial cliff where we will not going to be able to save them. i would propose block granting the states money based on population to deliver healthcare for seniors and people over 55. i feel that the states will be more closer to people of the state actually more listen to the legislator and provide you better service. any time you expect the government to manage your money efficiently, we can look at the record of spending money wrecklessly with mismanagement. i feel had we really need

to make tough choice or we will all be left with nothing. >> congressman akin and senator mccaskill privatized medicare. would you like to respond to that? >> the idea is that the senior has a choice in medicine. that's the idea. instead of having one size fits all, which is the big government solution. we're trying to allow choices. look, there's one thing in medicine that i don't like. that's when an insurance company gets between the doctor and patient. one thing that works, that's when the federal government gets between the doctor and patient. i don't support and neither to 71% of the missouri public support the bright idea of having the efficiency of the federal government and the compassionate the i.r.s. running our healthcare. i'm opposed to that. i voted 30 times to repeal

it. when you get to the senate, i will be the one to vote to make sure it gets repealed totally. >> i think it's important to remember that there is a lot of misinformation about this bill. there's not a government plan in it. it's all private insurance. there's good things in it. you need to remember what congressman akin wants to repeal. he wants to repeal the ability of insurance companies. we wants to repeal kids being able to stay on their policy in their 26 years old. he wants to repeal on focus on prevention. he wants -- i think if missourians will give this legislation a chance, there going to be pleasantly

surprised. >> the next question comes -- it goes to claire mccaskill. >> what current issue in federal government you feel least to address as u.s. senator and how you might prepare yourself to deal with it? >> i'm first? >> you are yes. >> i hope i am prepared since i have been blessed to serve in the state of missouri for six years. the thing that prepares me the most day in and day out is my focus on being here in missouri and traveling missouri. ..

our career politicians do not

seem to be serious about addressing the problems facing our nation. they're more concerned with getting reelected. the thing that prepares me for this job is just being from the ground level. i understand that have an open mind and listen to the people of the state. when i propose legislation, i bow represent the people of missouri. when it -- i will represent the people of missouri. one of the biggest problems in america are career politicians. we need term limits across the board. congress should be a revolving door of fresh ideas. >> todd akin. >> no matter how much you work and prepare and study, when you are working in congress, you'll get issues that you do not know that much about. we run into that all the time.

our job is to get to speed on the issue and tried to render a good judgment. the things most difficult are the ones you are not quite sure what the answer is when you first hear it. on the wall street bailout, we were approached and henry paulson looked like he was going to disintegrate. the whole world economy is going to collapse unless you give this $700 billion. we had to make a decision. he gave us to lousy choices. the common sense of missouri says look for a third solution. once you figure out what is going on, you find out there is a principle behind all things. you have to focus on that principle, but the politics aside pat and do the right thing for the people of our state.

-- put politics aside and do the right thing for the people of our state. our job is to find the principle, do the right thing, and a year or two later, the politics is gone. we could have changed accounting rules and fixed the problem without spending $700 billion. >> our next question will come from bill miller. >> are you satisfied with this country's foreign policy in dealing with iraq and afghanistan? if you are not satisfied, what you think president obama should consider in a way of changes? >> i am not satisfied. as a libertarian, i seek a world at peace with other nations. i look to thomas jefferson's quotation for inspiration. peace, converse -- commerce, --

america should stop acting as the world's policeman. i do believe in a strong national defense, but the optimum board is defense, not offense. we do not have the money to continue the wars. our money could be more wisely spent here at home. >> todd akin. >> it is important to have a foreign policy to start with. you have to have some basic principles, the guidelines. that needs to an acute -- including iraq, afghanistan, a whole lot of other countries as well. the problem is we have not had that. what it seems like the vacillating policies we have almost punished our friends and helped our enemies.

we decided to turn our backs on two of our allies, the czech republic and poland. we had plans to build missile defense. we gave that is a concession to russia. how much has russia helped us with iran? how much has russia helped us with the situation in afghanistan? giving special attention to chavez and turning our back on netanyahu when he wanted to meet with the president, the sending of mixed signals is very destructive to foreign policy. in the case of egypt, for instance, we talked a little bit about that in a press release. this is a country that should be protecting our embassy. while we give the money? let's withhold any money for egypt until they start acting like a nation, protect our embassy, and start not

fundamentally consulting us by built -- by burning our flags? >> claire mccaskill. >> the war in iraq was mississippi. when i went to washington i went with the eyes of an auditor. harry truman is spinning in his grave over what went on in iraq. congressman akin not even go to require competitive contracts in iraq. i helped establish the war contacting commission when i got to washington. no one had paid much attention to this. we found $60 billion -- three years of the entire budget that almost went up in smoke in waste, fraud, and abuse. no one was minding the store. we have begun to clean that up. in afghanistan, i support the mission of training police and army, but what we are doing in

turn up -- is wrong. we're doing the same thing in afghanistan that we did in iraq. investing in highways, power plants, water projects that they cannot maintain. they cannot afford to sustain, and they're getting blown up or not used because they did not have the expertise. we need to pull out -- pulled out and the structure money out and bring it back to the united states of america. we need a big bridge near washington, missouri. we need more highways and missouri. we need dam projects on the missouri river. i disagree with that. >> the center mention something about your position on competitive contracts. did you want to respond? >> i believe competitive bidding is a good thing. what you have going in iraq is

pretty interesting. you had people who were terrorists. anything anybody did, they would load up or shoot anybody associated with it. -- they would blow it up or shoot anybody associated with it. the attacks on the idea of roads in afghanistan, the big economy and afghanistan is heroin. her win, you can put on a motorcycle -- heroin, you can put on a motorcycle and take somewhere. i have a kid serving in afghanistan. i have a kid almost killed in iraq. i understand the cost of what we are doing. i want to do it in the right way. >> did you want an additional 45 seconds? >> there was nothing about the contract and in iraq that did that require a competitive luck. there was nothing about that contracting.

they finally did begin to compete for these contracts. abramoff diagramming hand towels to dry up the cost -- they were model granting -- that was the contract. the famous halliburton contract that they completely took advantage of the american people on, this was a bill that would require competitive bidding and the congressman voted no. >> the next question goes to todd akin. >> the country cut the federal work force through attrition and freeze pay, close overseas military bases, cap spending at home, raise the gasoline tax, curtail the mortgage interest deduction, raise the payroll tax for social security, reduce

entitlements as well as farm subsidies and civilian and military pensions. it recommended a lower system of taxation. why hasn't this become at least the beginning of a serious discussion about reducing the federal deficit? >> it was the starting point and there were a lot of good ideas in that particular commission. what we really stuck with -- ultimately, you have to put the whole thing into a budget to make it work. you have to balance those different elements and say, what is a reasonable approach? it is all but what -- like what if -- it is a little bit what like families have to do. the budget has been set up for a vote and the budget has passed. was the budget i would have written? no, it was not quite as conservative.

it was still a reasonable approach that puts us back on track to recovery. those budgets, of course, go where? to the senate. what happens when we send bills to the senate? they die. the budget saw in the senate and died. -- sat in the senate and died. that is the reason i am running for the senate. the senate cannot get anything done. it is the fed's rule of law that we are supposed to have a budget every year. i do not think the debt ceiling increase and another 10%, the sequestration of defense, is not an excuse to do and what the law says. >> i agree with the congressmen that the proposal had some good ideas. we need to work off that

framework. that was the framework the president and john boehner are working on when they got in the agreement last summer prior to his passing a budget into law. they were going to try to move $4 trillion of debts off the books. the tea party shut it down. we are working on a bipartisan basis in the senate every day to try to cobble together a plan that will reduce 4-$5 trillion of debt. i am part of that group. we need to reduce mortgage interest. i do not believe anybody buys a second, because of the mortgage interest deduction. we should look at whether we should take a haircut on charitable deductions. we need to look at cutting farm payments. in fact, we did. we stopped all direct payments in the farm bill. we saved $23 billion in

spending in a bipartisan farm bill the. what is more important for 70 in missouri than a farm bill? -- for 70 in missouri than a farm bill? -- for certainty in missouri than a farm bill? they did not even take it up to vote on it. that is the kind of gridlock we do not meet in washington. >> jonathan dine. >> i agree with a lot of the ideas and the commission, except for the gasoline tax. americans already pay enough at the pump. we should have really nice roads for that much money. it does not go far enough. a lot of those things were not

implemented because of something -- political cowardice, afraid to take on the real issues because they are campaigning, they're worried about reelection. we do need to make some serious choices if we do want to save what we have. it takes someone who was willing to say no to reckless spending, say no to corporate interests. >> todd akin, there were some issues raised about the farm bill. would you like a rebuttal? >> i keep hearing that we passed a budget in the senate. we have not passed a budget in the senate in 1200 days. increasing the debt ceiling is not the same thing as a budget. increasing the debt ceiling, we do it over and over again as though we can just keep spending money. we cannot do that. that included and what resulted

of -- and the sequestration, a second time% cuts in defense. panetta was asked, he is the ceo for terry of defense appointed by obama -- he is the secretary of defense appointed by obama. this is like shooting yourself in the head. it is not a budget is a disaster. >> read the bill. if he will read the bill, he will find the language specifically that says, this act shall serve as the budget resolution for the fiscal year. this act shall serve zero as the budget resolution and it lays out the next year. you can read the bill and you can read the budget in the bell. go on my website and you can

read it. guess what happened this year. the appropriators followed it. we cut direct payments, which was hard for many farmers to swallow. it was a hard vote in the senate. the farm bill is essential to missouri. we need to get at the work of getting the farm bill done. >> jonathan dine, did you want 45 seconds on the deficit? >> i am ok. >> this will have to be our last question. >> the trust for america's health -- researchers estimate the projected increase in obesity rates will cost the united states $550 billion between now and 2013. what policies, if any, do you believe the government should adopt to prevent rising health- care costs caused by obesity-

related diseases? >> this is a place that the government should keep their big nose out. i do not think the government needs to be telling people what they should eat or what they should drink. i understand it is a struggle. i am a woman in her 50s, i have seven sizes of clothing in my closet. i go from one end to the other. tried to set a good example, you know, speaking out about it like michelle obama has done, considering the importance of physical activity for our children, making sure we support and promote that in ways that are advisory only and not requirement. also paying for prevention, making sure people can go see their doctors and learning about the dangers of diabetes. if we can bring down diabetes in our adult population by just

10%, it is amazing what it does to the cost curve of are debt and deficit. i would not be someone who thinks the government should get in the business of telling people what they should eat or drink. >> jonathan dine. >> the top five leading causes of death are all related to diet and lifestyle. they are all preventable. diet and exercise can make a big difference. i've been a personal trainer for 15 years. i help people motivate themselves. it is something that anybody can do at any age, but somebody needs to be a role model. the government should make incentives. it is the number one drain on our health care system overall. we do need to have some positive reinforcement instead of negative reinforcement.

obesity does kill more people than war, murder, crime, drugs, and everything else combined. if that is not a problem with the government should set a role model, i do not know what is. >> todd akin. >> all of us have things in our lives that are challenging. for some people, obesity is one of them. all of us are people. all of us have to try to manage those things and try to do the best pecan. -- the best we can. when the government starts to overstep and there are problems with jobs and all kinds of stresses, these problems become a lot worse. i agree, this is the first time i've agreed with claire, this is not something the government should do. the federal government is telling you what kind of light bulb you should buy, i am glad

there is something the federal government does not have to do. this is part of being americans. this is part of living the dream in america, that we can challenge ourselves. i think we also have to have a love for each other. we are all americans, we are all god's children. we need to give people a hand when they needed or some encouragement. this is one of a whole series of things that put in the category of self-government. the way that we run our own lives responsibly. this is what has made america strong, we're good at doing that. >> that is the end of our question and answer session. it is now time for our closing statements. each candidate gets two minutes. >> america that is an absolutely

unique and great country. sometimes we forget. we fought two world wars, we have next no territory, crowned no kings, and then we voted to tax ourselves to rebuild our enemies. how often has that happened in world history? we have the oldest written constitution. this is to we are, we are americans. what is the secret of america's greatness? i would believe that it is pretty well captured by jefferson when he said, we believe there is a creative art who gives us life and liberty and pursuit -- a creator who gives us life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

for you to have the liberty of free speech, to be able to go vote or to keep the things you earned and the pursuit of happiness, the essence of the american dream, that every single one of us are different, we are all equally important and each of us can go after what effort did is we have in our hearts to do. -- bill after whatever it is we have in our hearts to do. we follow those dreams and america has been built long dream at a time. that makes sense to we are. that is being threatened. and destroyed by people who are building washington, d.c., not protecting life, not protecting liberty, taking so much people -- do you want more washington and big government or do you want to protect the american dream? god himself intended us to have

life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. thank you. >> we have a choice. a choice between two candidates that have a much different view, but also the choice of whether we look back and blame or whether we look forward and fix. todd akin loves america and so do i.. todd akin believes america is unique and so do i.. but we have a different view about how we get to that shiny place on the mountain. we need certainty for our business community. do we get it through gridlock or do we get through compromise? i am very proud that i am part of a group in the senate that believes in bipartisan compromise. i have stood up to my party and work with republicans to move the ball forward on tough compromises that make a difference. he is part of the gridlock. where is the farm bill?

where is the postal bill? where are the bills the tea party is trying to shut down because they refuse to allow them to go forward? i've worked with a long list of republican senators. all these are things i have worked on with republicans to cut spending and to make are spending more responsible. the congressman wants to go back, he wants to go back to the same policies that created this mess in the first place. he wants to go back to a policy were all you have to do is to a another tax cut for the wealthy and everything is going to be fine. no rules of the road for the greed of wall street. cuts in veterans benefits, give another tax cut to tom brady, eliminate student allowance, but give another -- privatize social

security and medicare and but more cost on the backs of seniors, but give another tax cut to the wealthiest will peak of america. i do not think we have to do that. let's go forward together and fix it. >> jonathan dine. >> the federal government has exploded in size. no area of your life, your business, or your wallet is free from the meddling of politicians. it does not have to be this way. you could keep more of what you earn. it would be easier to start a new business, building new home, and fuel real economic growth. we need more ordinary americans to stand up and take an active role in government. the political system would be better off if more credibility was given to libertarians. representre likely to a combination of views and think outside the box. it is time we break up some of the stagnation of the two-party

system. i come to you as a concerned american citizen who is worried about the direction of this country. i am worried about the uncontrollable debt, the endless wars, i am worried about the erosion of our civil liberties and personal freedoms. i am not a fine-tuned polish politicians like my opponents, but i do have -- polished politicians like my pundits, but i do have genuine qualities. if you do support me, you'll be supporting lower tax levels and more personal freedoms across the board. i promise to keep the republicans out of your bedrooms and the democrats out of your wallets. >> that is all the time we have. let's give the candidate around of applause. >> ann romney campaign in

milwaukee. this is about 30 minutes. thank you for coming out. scott and i are asked, why do we do what we do? what we spend so much time and energy trying to make wisconsin a better place, he is the reason why we do what we do. we want wisconsin and america to be a better place for our son

and our grandchildren. you happen to know that he also did this for business. and one of the wonderful business leaders, you are now famous throughout the country, meg whitman. she worked with mitt. [applause] as the first lady of massachusetts, at short to focus attention on the challenges

facing at risk youth and continues to be interested in that today. while serving on the board of the united way, she founded a program that joins inner-city boston churches would at risk used in the community. she is a strong believer that faith based and community organizations can reach some of our communities better than government. in 1988, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. the words that come to mind our courage, inspiration, and she is a rock. [applause] some days she could not get out of bed. however, she was determined to

conquer her illness. when he ran the olympics in 2002, she was given the honor of carrying the torch. her five sons and her has been united behind her. it is that a fire that burns with the strength and passion to overcome any obstacle and that served as inspiration to all of us. she will continue to raise awareness -- she will continue to inspire all of us. please join me in welcoming the next first lady of the united states.

>> thank you. i think we can carry wisconsin. before i start, this is another sober moment in our history. 9/11 is a difficult anniversary for our country. our prayers are with those americans and families whose lives were lost in libya. and particularly today, a navy seal tyrone woods family. if you would all join me and pause for a moment for all the brave americans who prove that every day freedom is not free.

thank you. just like we came together 11 years ago, our country is coming together during the most critical elections of our lifetime. i have the honor of having a few women behind me that i know for massachusetts. i want you to be aware of some things. as governor, half of the cabinet and senior staff were women. some of them are here right now. in fact, he was ranked as number

year -- #one every year for having more women in his senior positions. they were at the heart of the economic turnaround in massachusetts. his chief of staff was a woman. his lieutenant governor was a woman. these women on the stage and those other women were women that helped him to change the environment for business and put the economy and job creation on a growth path. i am going to introduce a few of those women that are here with us on the stage today. she worked to create jobs during his administration. his secretary of consumer

affairs, beth. her job was to go through all the regulations slowing down business start-ups and cut red tape. i think we need a little bit of this in washington. his secretary of environmental affairs, there she is. she knew her mission was to figure out how to protect the environment, a restructuring the regulation slowing down in business start-ups and she did this by shifting approvals to zero-day approvals. another woman i will introduce i

knew very well because she also worked with mitt at the olympics. after the olympics, she joined with the team and make sure all the promises he made during his campaign we followed through with. she oversaw all of that. having these women here, having all these women in the audience is to know that he puts women in key leadership positions to help create job growth, cut regulations, make energy affordable, and turn around the economy. [applause] you happen to know that he also did this in business. one of those wonderful business leaders was meg whitman.

she worked with mitt. i cannot say enough about being in wisconsin and being thrilled to have paul ryan as part of our team. jan is little under the weather. we are so thrilled to have someone like paul ryan on our team. he is so great. [applause] he is ringing a warning bell.

we appreciate the bell he is bringing. he is making all of us aware that we are approaching a fiscal cliff, that we have economic problems in this nation that have got to be addressed and have got to be solved. we are grateful for a man who has that much courage, integrity. we love paul ryan. [applause] i am going to now have fun and tell you a story about mitt. and my fun job as a wife is to tell people about things that you might not know about. i think everyone knows he was a governor, successful businessman, that he has a big family. in the balloon drop, my grandchildren got lost. the balloons were dropping. and there were diving into the

balloons. but they knew there was going to be another balloon drop and there were truly going to be buried. but they did not mind. that was their favorite part of the convention. there was a story told at the convention that i would like to retell. and have the ability to let you know what kind of a person mitt is. he is a person who cares. and having these women with us today, we know that he cares about women and making the economy good for women. and he cares that these past four years have been the most difficult on women. do you know that more women have become unemployed than men in the last four years? do you know that more women have fallen into poverty in the last four years?

i know we need to have women out there understand that mitt is someone who cares, someone who will work harder than anyone, who will be there, and he will not fail. [applause] to show you the kind of character that i have seen of this man that i have been married to for 43 years, i will tell a story that has been told at the convention. was a surprise to me. friends from our past, ted was a fireman in massachusetts. and i remember how old one of my sons was, you was just learning how to talk. it sticks in my memory because of that.

my son, ban, was two. then is now a doctor. ben is now a doctor. the story is that there were just friends of ours, members of our congregation. and one of their sons became ill with leukemia. mitt continues to be friends with the family, he would visit them. but he he was in and out of the hospital for seven months before his death. during those months, mitt would often visit with the david. it is interesting to think that mitt was very busy at that point in his life. he was also raising five little boys of his own. and it would have actually been only four if ben was two.

but he was there for this family. and one of those conversations, he discovered david like firewood. some mitt made sure to tell david that he had bought him a very large box of firewood and fireworks for david when he got out of the hospital to set off. and his family remembered that so fondly. because it was relief from the heavy heartedness that they felt. can you imagine if 14-year-old boy does not probably have many possessions.

mitt brought a yellow legal pad with him and they sat down together and they wrote out his will. in another visit, david was planning his funeral. he said to mitt, i know who i want to speak at my eulogy. i want you to speak at my funeral. and mitt said, how amazing is that? this to me is how we measure a person. how we care for one another. [applause] i was grateful for pat and ted

to come to our convention and tell that story. there were getting tired of hearing a story about a man that is heartless and only cares about profit. we know what he cares about, he cares about people. [applause] so, here we are facing a very significant moment in our history. we have a very important election coming up. i was with barbara bush a couple months ago, and she was very outspoken and frank but she has a tendency to be. and she said something interesting. she said when she was introducing me that this is the most important election of her lifetime. and i said, is that amazing. she is 86 from 87 years old. she has been married to a president.

and her son was a president. and i thought, this is the most important election of her lifetime. and it is. you did it. you did the hard work here in wisconsin. you got scott walker. [applause] and i know we can do it again. we have got to make sure that paul ryan and mitt romney win in november. mitt is optimistic. he loves this country. he loves everything about the opportunity and promise that it has given us all. we are grateful for all of those to of sacrificed for us, who have come here for hope and opportunity, as my ancestors did.

my grandfather would be stunned to know that his granddaughter would be standing here. and he came in a very bad time. 1929. with not a nickel in his pocket. but my father as a 15-year-old boy went to work during a high- school, got a good degree, worked harder. and he built his own business. [applause] mitt is running to make sure that all of those dramas, all of those people who are working so hard will know that the next generation promises america will always be there for them. we love this country, we love what it has given for all of us. we love what it would give up

for our children if we continue to fight and keep america what it has always been, the hope of the earth. god bless america. and thank you very much. ♪ i was born free ♪ born free free like a river ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪

♪

♪ [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] ♪

♪

♪ ♪

♪

♪

♪ ♪

>> see the first of the presidential debates wednesday, october 3, live on c-span, c- span radio, and c-span.org. australian prime minister takes questions from members of parliament. after that, the debate with candidate for the u.s. senate in missouri. tomorrow, at the economy and jobs are the focus of the panel

featuring economic advisers from presidential campaigns. watch it live 2:30 eastern on c- span. >> millions of students are paying less for college because we finally took out a system that wasted taxpayer dollars using banks and -- we said, let's give the money directly to students. >> we've got to make sure our workers have the skills they need -- skills they need for today and our kids are getting an education that will allow them to compete tomorrow. that means it is time for us to put the kids and their parents and the teachers first and the teachers' union behind. >> the first debate between presidential candidas